Episode Summary

Willow comes back to town with a powerful ally, but the First has a new piece on the board as well. A misogynistic "preacher" named Caleb has come to town, and he throws down the gauntlet as soon as he enters Sunnydale. Buffy, the Scoobies, and the Potentials go to take up the challenge with disastrous results.moreless

"Dirty Girls" is an exciting and surprising episode, but is also one that is slowed by a focus on plot and unnecessarily long introductions.

Interspersed into the plot are some great character scenes, a dash of humor, and some shocking moments. Added all up it's a bit of a jumble, but it mostly works.

Nathan Fillion, of Firefly fame, enters the Buffyverse with some flair, but his introduction is not entirely successful. On one hand, we've got a nicely creepy and tangible villain. On the other, I think the episode would have benefited from seeing even less of Caleb than we did. All of those "sermon" scenes with the First only served to diminish his entrance. I would have preferred the "less is more" mantra while maintaining his 'performance' at the end of the episode. This would have given "Empty Places" some extra material to fill in some of the blanks around Caleb's personality and motivations. A larger problem that Caleb represents is that he usurps the First! It's obviously not cool to have your main villain upstaged by a new guy who appears towards the end of the season. I see this mostly as a failure of the writers to capitalize on what they had started in "Conversations with Dead People" and "Sleeper". Although Caleb mostly works here, we quickly find out there's not much to him and that he's essentially just the First's brute. I feel a lot more could have been done here, with a much more pyschologically scary First Evil and the tangible Caleb as its current manifestation in this world. Had the First been used better before now and Caleb had deeper characterization and motives, this same setup could have been downright explosive. Instead we get something that's certainly still entertaining and compelling to watch, but not nearly as mythic and complex as the end of the series deserved. Also suffering the introduction syndrome is Faith, who we are re-introduced to far too many times. From Willow's reminder of Buffy and Faith not being "study buddies" to the graveyard reunion with Buffy to Andrew's entire -- admittedly funny -- monologue about the 'dark It all reeks of overkill to me. Fortunately, Eliza Dushku seems up to the task of showing us a complex and newer version of Faith, and is obviously very comfortable in this role. The Faith we see now is much more mature, experienced, and in control of herself. Angel did a great job with her. By the way, to those of you who haven't seen Angel yet, I fully recommend all of the Faith episodes along with the show as a whole. Although seeing Faith interact with everyone was fun, my favorite interaction was seeing her with Spike. Together they are hilarious and genuine, obviously having a ton in common at this point. Again, I love the continuity and the humor. When they first meet in the graveyard they have a fun exchange of words and punches. The meat of their similarities comes out during the sublime basement chat though. This is two complex, well-established characters having a realistic and wholly entertaining conversation where they find a level of connection in their respective histories. I think this scene might just be the highlight of the episode. This is effortless, awesome character work. Kudos to Drew Goddard on the writing side, and kudos to Dushku and Marsters for the seemingly effortless acting. It's wonderful to see a follow-up to the huge events in "Lies My Parents Told Me", with Buffy re-iterating to Wood that she meant what she said to him before, but qualified it with a peace offering, also telling him she needs him on her side. Then he, amusingly, fires her! I can understand Buffy's apprehension about leading the girls into battle, but Wood's right: they need to be tested. It's just unfortunate that their first real test had to be against Caleb. Although Buffy falls into Caleb's trap, I really appreciate that there's a good reason for it. Buffy's not just blindly going into the vinyard for shits and giggles, it's like what Wood said earlier in the episode: "maybe you should test Buffy hopes to use this opportunity to apply more force than Caleb expects thereby getting a solid win and that needed real-world experience the potentials don't yet have. With how much Buffy can take and with such strong allies behind her, I'm not the slightest bit surprised by her confidence. What happened, simply put, is that Buffy vastly underestimated Caleb and the force behind him. There was no real way for her to find that out, though, without some sort of encounter. Remember Buffy's speech back in "Bring on the Night", about taking the fight to the enemy? Well, this is her living up to her 'campaign The fact it didn't work out well doesn't mean it wasn't a good -- albeit risky -- move at the time. With my defense of Buffy's position put aside, others in the group like Giles make excellent counterpoints. This message from Caleb, about having something of Buffy's, is clearly intended to be a trap and everyone knows it. While everyone is collaboratively formulating their attack strategy, Spike even wisely makes mention of the "bait and switch," of which Angelus used to devastating effect back in "Becoming Pt. 1". Buffy, remembering the past and using her allies' advice agrees to leave Willow behind to protect the ones who aren't part of the attack on Caleb. The one problem with this idea is that if I were Caleb, I'd be much more scared of Willow than Buffy at this point, despite Willow's apprehension about her power. Although I sympathize with Buffy's plan, nobody else is really convinced by it, and that's something Buffy really needed to factor more heavily into her decision. Despite having a gutsy move that may, indeed, give them a big win, Buffy must put aside her own ego and ideas in lieu of disagreement from all of her closest advisers. I do like how Faith's the only other one totally digging the plan, which is true to character. Faith says, "Hey, I'm with you. Drop me in the hornet's nest, what the All of the potentials are also incredibly nervous about this entire assault and some even express extreme doubt at Buffy's motivations. Xander, though, sets them all straight by briefing them on fight tactics and then going into a beautiful speech on his experiences and trust in Buffy that has been built over the last seven years: "I've been through more battles with Buffy than you all can ever imagine. She's stopped everything that's ever come up against her. She's laid down her life, literally, to protect the people around her. This girl has died two times, and she's still standing. You're scared? That's smart. You got questions? You should. But you doubt her motives, you think Buffy's all about the kill, then you take the little bus to battle. I've seen her heart, and this time not literally. And I'm telling you, right now, she cares more about your lives than you will ever know. You gotta trust her. She's earned One of my favorite images of the entire series is in this episode, one which gives me a massive sense of perspective and satisfaction. This is the scene where Buffy leads the group to assault Caleb's lair. What we have here is this amazingly diverse group of people -- the damaged, the lonely, the scarred, the reformed, and the innocent -- working and fighting together under a common banner. It's a truly inspiring image that reminds me of how many awesome events I've witnessed in this show -- of all the character development it took to get us here. We have grown with all of these people, some for one yea, some for ~5 years, some for ~6 years, and some for the entire series. And now, through all those trials and struggles from various points in the series, they're all here... together. Just... amazing. The vinyard fight itself is particularly brutal. Caleb shows what he's capable of and the resulting damage to the group is immeasurable. Not to diminish the pain Xander goes through here, but be thankful that Whedon didn't have his way and have Xander actually killed like originally planned. I was particularly impressed with how they showed off Caleb's power. He can just casually punch and kick people across the room. I also loved that we got shown a preview of how he can be beat, as at the end of the encounter Buffy uses her superior speed and agility to dodge the bulky Caleb and whack him across the room. We'll see an expansion of this strategy in "Touched". Throughout the episode we got several hints as to Xander's awful fate. His fun opening dream involving lots of girls and a pillow fight is, in retrospect, very thematically relevant as it plays into Caleb's whole 'dirty girls' motif. He also makes a special point of noting to the potentials that "everything's got Whether Caleb intended it or not, damaging Xander so badly really does achieve an effect of completely demoralizing the entire group. "Dirty Girls" is a very solid episode that does a lot right. It's got action, character development, drama, and some big shocks. Where it gets taken a down a notch is with its excessive introductions and unpolished feel. Its overall focus on plot doesn't do it any favors either, as the plot is pretty simple: Caleb comes to town and draws Buffy into a massacre. There's enough strong moments and great scenes, though, that most of the flaws can be accounted for but pushed aside for what's a pretty entertaining episode of Buffy.moreless

FAITH! FAITH! FAITH!

What a shame this is the ep they get Nic Brendon to comment upon, with all the other great Xander centric eps he's been in. Again, Caleb doesn't finish them, he just lets them run?

Best line;

Xander; "Everything has eyes" (Oh dear)Women good/men bad; I don't think I've ever felt such visceral hatred for any villain as I do for woman-hating Caleb. I want to crush his skull in my bare hands. At least the nerds were funny and the Mayor charming and polite (for the most part). Jeez!; Caleb torturing Shannon, Molly and Colleen killed, Xander maimed. Kinky dinky; (I may just have to extend this subject now Faith's back) Xander dreams of threesomes with nubile teenage potentials and the rest pillow-fighting in their skimpy underwear. Of course the reality of living in a house filled with teenage girls is not quite so sexy (to my shame I didn't get the leg-cramp gag first time around). Faith puts the moves on Spike. Scott Hope. Angel, Riley, flirting with Giles and now Spike, the girl just can't help it, she's always stealing Buffy's boyfriends. Faith talks of dressing up as a horny cheerleader (Bring it on?), naughty nurse and sexy schoolgirl for her past lovers. Mayor Wilkins? Wesley? She's also quite ok with the sight of Spike's chains "Each to their own". Her phrasing is quite ambiguous "I used to run with this guy who liked me to dress up as a schoolgirl then take this bullwhip...". Now does she mean she whipped him or he whipped her? Or maybe they took turns? To judge by her later comments about 'looking up the guy with the bullwhip', having had enough all female company for a while, having been the toughest girl in a woman's prison for the last 3 years it seems inevitable that she was the one being whipped. Remember we've seen her self-harming a couple of times and the naughty schoolgirl is invariably the one being punished in S&M scenarios (probably be the strict schoolmistress if she was doing the whipping?). "If you can't beat them..." Spike comments that the schoolgirl thing is old hat which may be a subtle dig at Britney Spears and the outfit Buffy wears to seduce RJ in Him. One popular fan theory is that Faith is referring to Spanky who Angel meets in the frist ep of Angel Season 5 and who likes to spank women and certainly has a bullwhip. If you like the idea of Eliza Dushku with a whip check out the Youtube clips from the Dollhouse ep 'Spy in the house of love'. Now if you'll excuse me I need to sit down. Faith seems pleasantly suprised that Buffy has had a wild affair with Spike, maybe not so stuffy after all? Captain Subtext; Obvious tension between Dawn and Faith, one wonders if Dawn always resented this rival for Buffy's affections or liked her only to feel betrayed when she went evil? Faith notes of Dawn 'Brat's all woman sized'. Note when Xander and Kennedy are hurt it's Xander Willow goes to rather than her girlfriend. Xander's fantasy has the girls being with each other as well as him and loads of sapphic sex-play between them. Faith says she's "had her fill" of all female relationships in prison. The choir girl The First poses as for Caleb to stab is very reminiscent of Darla in 'Inside out'. Buffy seems jealous that Faith has been inside Angel's mind which she wasn't able to do in Earshot. Andrew cries at Xander's speech. Spike still very anti-Angel, getting a soul didn't change that! Guantanamo Bay; So, is Buffy's plan rash or sound? Hard to say, she's right that they just can't sit around waiting and now that they have Faith it might be the time to go on the offensive. Scoobies to the ER; Xander and Rhona very badly hurt Apocalypses; 7, Scoobies in bondage: Buffy: 9 Giles: 4 Cordy: 5 Will: 4 Jenny: 1 Angel: 4 Oz: 1 Faith: 3 Joyce: 1 Wes: 1 Xander; 3 Dawn; 4 Spike; 4 Scoobies knocked out: Buffy and Spike Buffy: 22 Giles: 12 Cordy: 6 Xander: 16 Will: 10 Jenny: 2 Angel: 6 Oz: 3 Faith: 1 Joyce: 3 Wes: 1 Anya;7 Dawn; 6 Tara; 1 Spike; 3 Kennedy; 1 Kills: 1 vamp for Faith plus her kills from her appearances on Angel. Buffy: 125 vamps, 62 demons, 6 monsters, 10 humans, 1 werewolf, 1 spirit warrior & a robot Giles: 8 vamps, 2 demons, 2 humans/1 god. Will: 6 vamps + 3 demons +1 fawn+1 human. Oz: 3 vamps, 1 zombie Faith: 19 vamps, 6 demons, 3 humans. Xander: 6 vamps, 2 zombies, 1 a demon, 2 humans Anya: 1 vamp and 1 a demon Riley; 18 vamps + 7 demons Spike; 11 vamps and 7 demons+1 human Buffybot; 2 vamps Tara; 1 demon Dawn; 1 vamp + 1 demon Kennedy; 1 human+1 vampire Amanda; 1 vampire Woods; 5 vamps and 2 demons Scoobies go evil: Giles: 1 Cordy: 1 Will: 4 Jenny: 1 Angel: 1 Oz: 1 Joyce: 1 Xander: 4 Anya; 1 Dawn; 1 Buffy; 1 Spike; 1 Wood; 1 Alternate scoobies: Buffy: 8 Giles: 4 Cordy: 1 Will: 6 Jenny: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 2 Joyce: 2 Xander: 4 Tara; 1 Dawn;1 Spike; 1 Anya; 2 Recurring characters killed: 16, goodbye Molly. Also Colleen who was one of the girls from Xander's threesome fantasy. Jesse, Flutie, Jenny, Kendra, Larry, Snyder, Professor Walsh, Forrest, McNamara, Joyce, Katrina, Tara, Quentin Travers, Chloe, Molly, Jonathon. Sunnydale deaths; Molly and Colleen 107 Total number of scoobies: 35 or so, there now seem to be about 20 Potentials plus Faith. However no Anya whatsoever and no one even comments upon it. No Vi either. Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Spike, Giles, Kennedy, Vi, Rhona, Amanda, Chao-Anh, Wood, Andrew, Faith plus an indeterminate number of potentials. Xander demon magnet: 6(7?) Preying Mantis Lady, Inca Mummy Girl, Drusilla, VampWillow, Anya, Lissa (arguably Buffy & Faith with their demon essences?), Dracula? Scoobies shot: Giles: 2 Angel: 3 Oz: 4 Riley; 1 Buffy; 1 Tara; 1 Notches on Scooby bedpost: I think we can safely add Bullwhip guy to Faith's total? Giles: 2; Joyce & Olivia, possibly Jenny and 3xDraccy babes? Buffy: 4 confirmed; Angel, Parker, Riley, Spike. 3 possible, Dracula+RJ+Shadowmen's demon(?) Joyce: 1;Giles, 2 possible, Ted and Dracula(?) Oz: 3; Groupie, Willow & Verucca Faith:3 ;Xander, Riley, Bullwhip guy Xander: 2; Faith, Anya Willow: 2;Oz and Tara Riley; 3; Buffy, Sandy and unnamed vampwhore Spike; 2 Buffy and Anya Anya; 2 Spike and Xander Dawn in peril; 14 Dawn the bashful virgin; 9 What the fanficcers thought; Plenty of fic elaborating on Faith's stories of dressing up as a naughty nurse, horny cheerleader and sexy schoolgirl who gets whipped. Spaith also a pretty popular pairing. Willow and Faith's drive to Sunnydale also common, normally featuring them both apologising to each other for their evil deeds then stopping off at a motel for a night of lesbian sex. Fillow? Questions and observations; Spike says he reformed long before Faith did, no he didn't! He didn't truly reform until season 6 whilst she turned herself in by season 4. Caleb says that the Bringers DON'T serve Satan meaning the First isn't the Devil. But is he kidding himself? Amazed they let them use the Star Trek refs although I'd always thought Faith's dagger looked very Klingon. You feel sorry for Buffy losing her job, she obviously loved having something normal in her life. People are fleeing Sunnydale, a clear sign that this is the end for the town. Why not just shoot Caleb? I would suspect that the Potentials would be far too young to remember Falcon Crest. Nic Bredon lists his favourite eps as OMWF, Hushed, The Body and Restless, all firm fan favourites Marks out of 10; 8/10 moreless

"Looking for the Lord in the wrong damn places" - Caleb

So it turns out that the bringers have got a leader, one who blew up the Council and who exists in order for there to be a super-strong corporeal being for the Slayer to fight who just happens to be the ultimate Judeo-Christian misogynist who believes women are dirty wh*res. Enter Captain Caleb. One wonders why the FE didn't bring him in earlier.Also re-enter the ultimate dirty girl, the bad girl comfortable in her body and her sexuality whose love of knives takes on patriarchal power, who, according to Andrew is "a lethal combination of beauty, power, and death" and whose very name should be anathema to Caleb. Magdalene-like, Faith is on the road to redemption, was paying for her crimes and is only wiling to bust out of prison to help Buffy (or Angel). Faith and Spike bond. Despite being 'cured' last episode, Spike is bound to like Faith since she beats him up when she first meets him. She has a history of going after Buffy's boyfs but both are too repenty for anything to happen. Buffy too has grown up, she told Wood that she didn't have time for petty vendettas and here she doesn't throw Faith out of the house for smoking and flirting (almost post-coitally) with her ex or berate Spike for it.Buffy also has to go back to work to see the boss who she threatened to let her ex kill. Not many people have to do that (apart from after the Christmas party), and Robin promptly sacks her. The people of Sunnydale have finally caught on that their town is not quite right and are leaving in droves. There's not many students left to counsel so Robin concludes that Buffy is better off at home working with the Potentials and considering her next move.All the potentials are back: Sassy, Kooky, Sarky, Oriental, and Annoying Molly who, fortunately, is not long for this world. There are now so many Slayerettes that they're leaking into Xander's house and into his dreams. Xander is a philologist but his version of women is light and frothy and lezzing it up a little, rather than the grumpy, tired, flu-ridden people they are in reality. Xander is another opposite of Caleb, willing to follow women rather than oppress them, he is the one who supports Buffy when she wants to take the fight to Caleb, giving one of his own inspirational speeches which is ironic given that he comes off badly during the fight. He foreshadows his own injury when he tells the Slayerettes how to fight effectively: "Go for the centre - brains, heart, eyes. Everything's got eyes." No-one cares about Annoying Molly but to show us how deadly Caleb is, something must happen to a major character. Spike may make up for everything he's ever done to Xander by saving him from death by Caleb, but Caleb has struck a mighty blow at the heart of the group. He has "gone for the centre".Buffy made a mistake in leading the girls into battle so soon. She is strung out on power and impatience and frustration. She is still snarky to Giles: "Help the girls who still need a teacher". She wants to fight. She wants the Potentials to fight. Faith recognises that Buffy has "a rough sitch here, trying to turn a bunch of little girls into an army". Buffy, with the exception of a few apocalypses, has always fought alone and it's hard for her to know the right thing to do, the girls need to be tested in battle, but she wasn't to know that Caleb was as powerful as he is. Caleb is a fallen preacher which brings to mind the devil, the ultimate evil, but Caleb claims Satan is "a little man". In a show and especially a season about female empowerment, the ultimate enemy was bound to be a misogynist who doesn't believe women have souls, who was a serial killer even before the FE recruited him and, like most evil-doers, doesn't believe that he is evil, he believes he is cleansing the world. Buffy has busted patriarchy and now must fight the ultimate patriarch. Caleb talks about power a lot, he believes his preaching is powerful: "The words I use got a power to them....They're not just words - they're truth." He believes a woman's power is to render men irrational in the face of their sexuality, and that is why women are dirty. He taunts Buffy whom he believes to be an unworthy enemy: "The slayer must indeed be powerful" - before he punches her across the room. The score at this stage, Patriarchy 1 Feminism 0.moreless

The One Where Xander Gets an Eyeful

With the series this close to ending, I was surprised that they would introduce yet another big bad. Especially one which would make much of an impact on the characters. How wrong I was!

Psychotic, sexist preacher Caleb crashes into Sunnydale with a bang. As soon as he comes on screen, he causes damage. Brutally maiming a new potential before throwing her out of his car into the roadside, Nathan Fillion, best known to Buffy viewers as the heroic Mal Reynolds on Firefly, is absolutely terrifying as the Southern psycho.Although the "psycho preacher" storyline has been done to death in many movies and TV shows, Fillion just makes Caleb so grotesque in his insanity that you can't wait for him to get his comeuppance.The episode continues with him killing two potentials (I know it's macabre, but I cheered when he butchered Molly, the potential you'd most like to rip out their vocal chords from), injuring many others and worse of all... ripping out Xander's eye! I was totally shocked when he did this. You've never seen such a main Scooby getting maimed like this before and my mouth was open in shock for ages!If Caleb wasn't good enough, Dirty Girls also features the return of Faith, in my opinion, the greatest character in the history of Buffy. Now fighting for good after her rehabilitation on Angel, Eliza Dushku doesn't do much this episode but it's just so cool having her back. She was absolutely amazing whilst on Angel, where she helped battle Angelus, and continues to be so here.Dirty Girls is really what the writers needed to do to make the audience really feel like the characters are all doomed. It's the best episode and ages and is probably the best out of the latter half of the season.moreless

Mildly disappointing

After the brilliance of "Lies My Parents Told Me" I find this episode mildly disappointing. It has its moments, like when Buffy is fired or when Faith enters the household with Giles and Dawn (Dawn IS underused in Season 7) welcome her with decided wariness. My main problem is the villain introduced: Caleb. I am simply bored by his ranting, he is ridicuously garrulous, and his misogyny too pithy, too little inventive to fascinate me. he is a woodcut persona who lacks the ambivalence that has made the greatest buffy-villains so enjoyable: the mayer, d'hoffryn (one of my favourites), spike, of course, etc.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (6)

When Faith borrows the stake from Buffy when they are fighting in the graveyard at the beginning of the episode, it is almost word-for-word a carbon copy of what happens in "Faith,Hope& Trick" when Faith 1st shows up.

Also to note, when Buffy stops Faith beating on Spike in the same scene, this is also almost a word-for-word carbon copy of a scene in "Revelations".

Faith smokes in this episode. In 21 previous appearances, she's never smoked before. Writer Drew Goddard acknowledged the error in a magazine interview and said he was surprised it made it to the filmed episode since Joss Whedon usually catches such continuity errors when Joss reads the scripts.

When the Potential Slayer (scripted as Diane -- the one in the pink sweater who is killed first by Caleb) is fighting the Bringer during the first minutes of the fight, if you look closely in the background another Potential is fighting a Bringer. Later on the in the fight, after Buffy is knocked out and everything goes to Hell, the same Potential and the same Bringer are still fighting but it's the same exact fight (same choreography and all) from before just close up.

Spike says he reformed before Faith, when they are fighting in the graveyard in this episode, but actually Faith reformed before Spike as he was conspiring with the enemy in the episode "The Yoko Factor" (4x20), at the same time that Faith turned herself in to the police in "Sanctuary" (Angel season 1, episode 19).

Toward the end of the Angel episode "Orpheus," Willow and Faith left L.A. to come back to Sunnydale. When they arrive in town at the beginning of this episode, they both appear to be wearing different outfits. This seems odd because the ride from Los Angeles to Sunnydale, probably isn't more than a couple hours.

Xander: I've been through more battles with Buffy than you all can ever imagine. She's stopped everything that's ever come up against her. She's laid down her life —- literally —- to protect the people around her. This girl has died two times, and she's still standing. You're scared? That's smart. You got questions? You should. But you doubt her motives, you think Buffy's all about the kill, then you take the little bus to battle. I've seen her heart, and this time —- not literally. And I'm telling you, right now, she cares more about your lives than you will ever know. You gotta trust her. She's earned it. Faith: Damn. I never knew you were that cool. Buffy: Well, you always were a little slow. Faith: I get that now.

Caleb: (to the First) Now, it's a simple story. Stop me if you've heard it. I have found and truly believe that there is nothing so bad it cannot be made better with a story… and this one's got a happy ending. There once was a woman, and she was foul, like all women, for Adam's rib was dirty - just like Adam himself - for what was he, but human. But this woman, she was filled with darkness, despair, and why? Because she did not know. She could not see. She didn't know the good news, the glory that was coming. That'd be you. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. You show up, they'll get in line, 'cause they followed her. And all they have to do is take one more step, and I'll kill them all. See? I told you it had a happy ending.

Faith: I was never much for the good book. Caleb: Oh it has it's moments, Paul had some good stuff for example but over all I find it a tad complicated. (Kicks Faith aside and Caleb grabs Diane by the neck) Good folk, bad folk, clean folk, dirty folk. (Snaps Diane's neck)Molly: No! Caleb: Yes.

Caleb: So you're the Slayer. "The" Slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame with that most precious invention of all mankind... the notion of goodness. Well the Slayer must indeed be powerful. (punches Buffy across the vineyard, knocking her unconscious) So... what else you got?

First Evil: Do you think I'm God? Caleb: Certainly not. I'm beyond concepts like that. First Evil: But you still wear the outfit. Caleb: A man can't turn his back on where he came from. And black's slimming, everyone knows that.

Spike: Stop... hitting... me! We're on the same side.Faith: Please do you think I'm stupid?Spike: Well... yeah.Faith: You were attacking that girl.(Buffy comes in and punches Faith)Buffy: Sorry Faith! I didn't realize that was you.Faith: It's all right, B. Luckily, you still punch like you used to.

NOTES (22)

For a man who has been telling Buffy that Spike is dangerous and should be staked or otherwise eliminated from the group Giles seems oddly OK with Faith moving in. Especially as the last time he saw her she had switched bodies with Buffy and nearly gotten her killed via the watcher's counsel.

The two girls who come onto Xander in his dream sequence are both portrayed by actresses who later went on to star in major TV series. Rachel Bilson became a star of The O.C. while Dania Ramirez went on to join the cast of NBC's Heroes.

One of the early options considered for what Caleb could do to Xander was to kill him, so that Xander could return as the First. Considering the build up towards the finale and the potential of negative fan reaction this was eventually changed to the way it is now.

During filming there were rumors/plans for a potential spin-off show starring Eliza Dushku and James Marsters. The scene of Spike and Faith in the basement was an unnofficial screentest to see their chemistry. Eliza eventually declined the offer due to her series Tru Calling.

You may notice that Faith's voice seems different from the last time she was on Buffy. This is because Eliza's voice was "broken" as she puts it, and she has since then gone through Voice Therapy to train herself to speak at a higher octave, as her natural raspy voice was destroying her vocal cords. She talked about when she started her voice therapy on David Letterman last year.

Nathan Fillion recently played the starring role of Captain Mal Reynolds in Firefly, also created by Joss Whedon. And on Angel, the actress who played the Firefly's first officer is Jasmine, season 4 final villain.

Although this is the first time that Faith has been back on Buffy since the Season 4 episode "Who Are You?", she has appeared on six episodes of Angel since then. The episodes are "Five By Five," "Sanctuary," "Judgement," and "Salvage," "Release," and "Orpheus."

In this Episode Caleb refers to Xander as "the one who sees things." This could be a reference to the episode 'Potential' when Dawn suggests to Xander that "seeing" is his power within the Scooby gang.

ALLUSIONS (6)

Kennedy: I don't care if it's Godzilla. I wanna get in this thing.Andrew: Godzilla is mostly Tokyo based, so he's probably a no-show.Many classic Godzilla fans (like geeky Andrew and Xander) were not pleased with the 1997 big-budget American movie starring Matthew Broderick. The computer-generated, asexually-reproducing lizard failed to capture the spirit of the original Japanese sci-fi icon.

Andrew: Why would Faith kill a person who studies Vulcans.Andrew thought a vulcanologist studies Vulcans not volcanoes. He thought Faith killed a Vulcan from Star Trek. The "blue shirt, elf-ears man" in Andrew's story looked very similar to Mr. Spock from the original Star Trek series.

Spike: Kind of like Falcon Crest.Spike's reply to Kennedy after she comments that it is an evil vineyard. The nighttime soap opera centered around a manipulive family that owned a vineyard. The show was on between 1981 and 1990.

Caleb: Well you're the other one. The Cain to her Abel. No offense to Cain, of course.From the Bible; Cain and Abel were sons of Adam and Eve. Cain murdered Abel out of jealousy, possible referring to Faith's betrayal of Buffy in season 3; or maybe that Faith will eventually murder Buffy.

Faith: The last one was Glitter... I guess it couldn't have been any worse.Faith is referring to the movie Glitter, Mariah Carey's feature film debut, which was deemed horrible by critics and moviegoers alike. It also had the lowest ratings in history when released on home video and DVD.

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